Leap forward slightly, a whole person is like a bird floating in the sky, said Li Zhenbo, head of a research institute of an airborne army base in Sichuan Province, when his team successfully finished the vertical wind tunnel skydiving training.

According to Li, the successful training indicates China has grasped the technology and skill in vertical wind tunnel skydiving.

A person in charge of the base said vertical wind tunnel is a kind of facility which can produce vertical airflow. When the vertical air currents reach a certain speed, a person could enter into the air stream and float up without any propeller, feeling flight freely.

According to Li, the 5-meter- diameter vertical wind tunnel is so far the largest of its kind in Asia and its technical indicators have reached the world's advanced level.

Soooo when will the Chinese to burst onto the skydiving scene? Do you think they are currently creating teams in all discplines with full intensive training (like their swimmers, gymnasts, skaters, etc)

Up until the 90's most of the athletes from the Soviet Union were military, and as the Chinese have adopted that model it would not surprise me if they used this tunnel to turn out FS teams. Haven't the Chinese started to make inroads into skydiving as they have already started to win medals at the world championships in accuracy events?

What if a national team are very young. If they are younger than the min age allowed in a competition host country, would they be not allowed to participate (could be seen as unfair) or special rules made for the event?

To go back to the topic... This article had an impact on the quality of my sleep, so I had to find out more. But my chinese is awful, so I mobilised a chinese friend to get me more info. Since I introduced him to tunnelflying when he was in Switzerland last year, I knew he won't mind digging around a bit. Here's what he replied:

Dear Andy,

Now I am in India, next Monday I will back to Shanghai. I checked it from internet, that is true China has built a windtunnel in Mianyan city of Sichuan province. (Sichuan province is my hometown, Mianyan city is my university location). It is not for military, it is open for entertainment. It is said, the first flyer tested for 5 minutes last week already, and next month can be open. When I back to China, I will collect more information for you. Wish you can enjoy flying in China, in my hometown soon!

Best regards, Lance from India

I guess thats good news... (unless you are a tunnel owner worried about dumping prices )

BEIJING, Jan.19 -- China's first theme museum, on the course of development of nuclear technology, will be set up in Mianyang City, southwest China's Sichuan Province, according to a China News Service report on Monday.

The museum, which is now under construction, is expected to open in April.

With a total investment of 250 million yuan (US$31 million), the museum will be divided into four big exhibition sections, namely nuclear technology, wind tunnel technology, computer science, and Changhong vision technology.

As the core of the museum, the nuclear technology section will be subdivided into five parts, namely "atom and nucleon", "tremendous nuclear power", "application of nuclear power", "peaceful utilization of nuclear technology", and "interactive demonstration programs". Each part focuses on popularizing nuclear knowledge and peaceful utilization of nuclear power and technology.

In addition, the exhibits will also showcase the people and touching stories behind the "two bombs and one satellite" program. The program describes the detonation of China's first atom bomb in 1964, which was followed by the successful launch of a missile in 1966 and explosion of a H-bomb in 1967. The launch of China's first satellite "Dong Fang Hong" in 1970 was a declaration to the world that China had mastered satellite technology.

The 30-meter-high entertainment wind tunnel with a diameter of 12 meters, the first of its kind, will enable three to five visitors to "fly" at the same time to experience space travel. Besides, China's first series of computers -- Yinhe I, Yinhe II and Digistar3 Theater -- will also be on display.

Mianyang City boasts many national-level science and technology institutes including the Chinese Academy of Engineering Physics, which conducted much of the research for the "two bombs one satellite" program, and China Aerodynamics Research and Development Center, counting many famous Chinese scientists including Deng Jiaxian, also known as the father of China's atom bomb, as previous in-house researchers.

I've found this http://english.chinamil.com.cn/...0/content_298973.htmwhich leads me to believe, that there actually is a 5 meter vertical wind tunnel in china, and that it is military only. I'm guessing it's located in Chengdu, where they already have at least 8 wind tunnels. (Paul, worse than your neighbourhood...)

On the other hand, there was an article in a chinese newspaper today, which says that the entertainment vwt in Mianyang has a flying area diameter of 3.6 meters and wind speed of 50 m/s. 3.6 meters equals 12 feet, so the numbers in the china.org.cn article would make sense, but not the units... Anyway, since i haven't heard of any dropzones in china, it's about time that there's a place to get a fix, the next time i have to go there...

&#12288;&#12288;The overall height of the newly built vertical wind tunnel is 55 m, of which, the diameter of the testing segment is 5 m, and the maximum wind speed at the center of the tunnel is over 50m/sec

Which I reckon is just about good enough for lighter people... (50m/s = 111mph)

as far as I am aware the largest science tunnel is the NASA Langley one at 20feet.... just a shame that they dont have enough speed to fly in! - I reckon at a 20foot diameter there could be some really interesting big ways!

Wind Tunnel in Mianyang City Sichuan province, China,Im living in Beijing, China and and is not easy to find a DZ here (Beijing is restricted now for airspace control and they only jump in Henan Province but not frequently) and because I didnt bring my gear with me,Im just doing wind tunnel training located in Mianyang , Sichuan province, as far as 2:30Hrs flight from Beijing, which its part of the "Mianyang science and technology museum" and the wind tunnel part is open to everybody which is nice not crowded and everybody can go, made for entretainment, while the museum part is being restored see below: www.mtkg.cn/readnewsnew.asp?ArticleID=366 and http://www.wingchina.com/cn/vertical%20wind%20tunnel.htm?jdfwkey=cztin so if any of you want to jump in China but no success finding a DZ , dont miss this place, you can go there at least to keep your body fix for freefly or RW or fix some minor problems with your bellyflight, with few minutes of training, and is not expensive at all as many wind tunnels around the world are, and I think not many skydivers know about this wind tunnel which is unknown for skydivers comunity. I was there last weekend and have a lot of fun,people who work there are very nice, if you want to look around see the place in Google earth at latitud 31 29' 01.75" N and longitud 104 46' 08.35"E . I tell you it worth it...I promise keep you all updated If I find some DZ and more deeply info about it, I have been in contact with people from ASFC (aereo sport federation of China) who rules all this kind of sports(skydiving, paraglidding, etc, best regards

Very interesting that there is now an alreadly operating recreational/entertainment wind tunnel there already in China, complete with photos and video. It actually looks like it can fly skydivers too, as those aren't very balloon jumpsuits at all, just very baggy regular jumpsuits. Looks approximately 10 feet, so a different tunnel than the military one discussed.

I didnt go the pannel control to see how fast it run and the speed, but all what I can tell you is Im a novice skydiver(only 67 jumps) and I was doing, or "trying-attempting" to do some backfly and sitfly, but It wasnt easy for me I was just tumbling a lot, ja ja jaja LOL, and I was using just normal jumpsuit, so the answer is yes you can do freefly and improve your skills that's what Iwas trying to do, best regards